Interesting race this afternoon to gauge Annie Power's CH credentials. The very admirable and consistent Cockney Sparrow opposes who kept MTOY honest in the Fighting Fifth. If the Irish mare hands out real thrashing then that will make Ruby's job of steering the owner and trainer towards the World Hurdle very tricky indeed.
Well, it WAS impressive, albeit Cockney Sparrow's fall slightly muddied the waters, although CS was coming under pressure at the time. I have backed her for the WH, but maybe as a NRNB it may pay to have a saver in the CH. The competition in that race will be a LOT stronger than what she has beaten so far, and although they are unlikely to go for the Mares race at the festival, you'd have to say she would beat Quevega. (that's almost sacreligeous!)
Why would she beat Quevega Reebs? She loses her allowance advantage over Quevega. Quevega's run against and beaten the boys aswell and is a multiple grade one winner. I don't know which horse would win if they ever raced but it's almost impossible to say which is better at the moment.
I can't help but get more and more convinced this is the race she's going. Thought completely differently prior to Christmas but everything suggests its the Champion now. What sort of freaking, crazy, outrageous race will the Champion become with this lot lining up: Hurricane Fly, My Tent or Yours, Annie Power, The New One, Our Conor, Jezki... Anyone else think the rest of Cheltenham is starting to looking anticlimactic after this race?!
If Ruby has to make a choice between Annie and the Fly which one do you think he would chose if he had to make the choice now? Come the day he probably won't have to make a choice as I suspect one of them won't be in it.
You couldn't get off a world record breaking dual Champion Hurdler Ron. Same way he'd never have got off Kauto Star.
Understandable Beefy. So if Annie's owner were to insist that she took on the Fly in the Champion, I wonder who would get the ride on Annie.
You would have to think it would be Townend who would pick the ride up Ron, and although I've already backed the new one for the race, Annie would definitely be carrying my money also if she turned up in the champion
Paul Townend could ride her, or Davy Russell - he no longer has his Gigginstown commitment and I'm sure he'll pick up some very nice rides at the festival this time around.
Decent shout oddy, but I can see the scenario being that Ruby doesn't desert the champ, Townend then gets second dibs and picks the power girl, and Davy picks up the ride on in des sceaux. All conjecture at this point
Interestingly, in her first 4 races she was ridden by a Mr PW Mullins. Is he related to the trainer? He has a very good win strike rate
Update 26th Jan: Hurricane Fly won his 4th consecutive Irish Champion Hurdle and cemented his position at the head of the betting - generally a 5/2 - 11/4 shot although 3/1 is still freely available. This time it was Our Conor who pushed him hardest, in a race which turned into a sprint to the line off what looked a relatively slow pace. However, looking back at the race time tells a different story and today's races compares very well with The Fly's previous victories from a time perspective: Year Winning Time 2011 3:52.10 (soft) - beat Solwhit 3.5L 2012 4:05.10 (heavy) - beat Oscars Well 6.5L 2013 4:05.10 (soft to heavy) - beat Thousand Stars 5L 2014 3:53.00 (soft to heavy) - beat Our Conor 1.5L Looking at these last 4 renewals, one has to say that today was probably his most impressive victory - both from a time perspective and also by what he beat. For me this proves that Hurricane Fly is not in decline and he remains the one they have to beat in March. Our Conor travelled really well throughout the race but could not find the extra gear that the Champ found after the last, Hurricane Fly readily pulling 1.5 lengths clear on the short run-in. The disappointment today was Jezki who is now out to 14/1 for the Cheltenham showpiece.
That time is astonishing considering the ground...BUT... explain how Captain Cee Bee finished where he did?!
Fecked if I can Beefy - maybe just everything clicked for him today, like Knockara Beau yesterday? As is often said, they are not machines. But Captain Cee Bee did win a Supreme in his time. He was 34 lengths behind The Fly in this race last year but has won a couple of Grade 2s very easily in the interim. He is no mug. Perhaps the front-running role suited him today and he was just able to plug on at a decent clip?
Yeah as you say he's not exactly a mug and he's been a rejuvenated character winning a Grade 2 in October. I'm not overly concerned by it, you'll often see big priced horses crop up in close proximity in these top races. Maybe as you say the jock just got his fractions absolutely spot on. They should leg him up on Big Bucks
Looks like my confidence in Our Conor was misplaced, I can't see him reversing places with the Fly in March. He came to win his race, but couldn't match HF's power after the last. This race is the Fly's to lose
With the young pretenders gradually being put in their place I'm looking down the list for a rank outsider that could, potentially, run into a place. The two that stand out at 40/1 and 50/1 respectively are Rock on Ruby, who has already been there and done it, and Grandouet who (we will never know) might have been there and done it but for falling arse over tit. If Annie runs I'll be cheering her on but nothing would please me more than to see a true champion do the honours again.
Interesting Reebs, I sort of took the opposite approach to this. Our Conor has posted his best performance by a country mile at Cheltenham, whereas Leopardstown is arguably Hurricane Fly's best course. In addition the Champion Hurdle will probably be run at a faster early pace (all of HF's 4 Irish CH's have been jog-and-sprint affairs to my knowledge) and I wonder if this might suit Our Conor more than the Fly (who very rarely faces a strong pace - he did last year in the CH and won well, but the year before I think the even strong pace was why he lost). OC's proximity to Hurricane Fly in this race if anything made me think he might be more likely to be in the mix come March. Right, that was the 'rational, well thought out' bit. For what it's worth, now for the 'complete conjecture and guesswork' bit: Assuming a strongly run CH, I can't see TNO overturning MTOY, or Jezki overturning much at all, making it between the Fly, MTOY, Our Conor and Annie Power for me (Can't have Un de sceaux as a genuine contender after much internal debate). In fact, to be honest I'm sort of of the opinion that the Irish lot are the better lot and gun to my head right now I might have Annie Power-Our Conor-Hurricane Fly as the 1-2-3... but at the same time I'd swap a £100 winning tricast slip to see the lot of them come to last together and then Hurricane Fly destroy them all.
